We, the people of Sindh, inheritors of one of the world’s most ancient and venerable civilisations, present our historical and political case to the nations of the world. This document is an appeal to the collective conscience of the international community, to the leaders of regional powers including India, Iran, Afghanistan, China, and the Arab states, and to the global powers of Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. We address this to all who believe in the principles of national self-determination, historical justice, and human dignity. Our objective is to shed light on the systematic subjugation of the Sindhi nation within the artificial state of Pakistan since 1947, and it continues to suffer political, economic, and cultural exploitation under Punjabi dominance. Pakistan’s state apparatus, particularly its military, which is notorious globally for corruption, oppression and has been a patron of religious extremism and terrorism, continues to undermine Sindh’s historical, national, and territorial unity. to assert our inalienable right to freedom and sovereignty.
1. The Historical and Civilizational Basis of Sindhi Nationhood
For millennia, Sindh has existed as a distinct sovereign nation with a unique cultural, linguistic, and political identity. Our land is the cradle of the Indus Valley Civilisation, which gifted the world its first planned urban centre, Mohenjo-Daro. This legacy makes us not merely a regional entity but a foundational pillar of human civilisation.
Our historical national frontiers extended from Makran to Multan and from the Arabian Sea to the deserts of Kutch and Rajasthan. The name of our nation and our river, the Indus (Sindhu), is recorded in the Rigveda, one of humanity’s oldest scriptures, attesting to our ancient and continuous existence. For thousands of years, Sindh has been a sovereign state, a centre of trade, philosophy, and culture. This historical reality forms the bedrock of our claim to nationhood.
2. The Era of Colonial Subjugation: From British Conquest to Pakistani Hegemony
In 1843, our sovereignty was aggressively violated when the British Empire, through deceit and in breach of a subsisting peace treaty, attacked and colonised Sindh. This act marked the beginning of an era of foreign domination.
Upon the British withdrawal from the subcontinent in 1947, the principles of justice and international law dictated that Sindh’s pre-colonial sovereignty should have been restored. Instead, our nation was forcibly and fraudulently amalgamated into the newly created state of Pakistan. This merger was executed under the pretext of the so-called “Two-Nation Theory,” a politically engineered doctrine that manipulated religious sentiment to negate the ancient, historical, and secular identities of nations like ours. Consequently, Sindh was transferred from one colonial yoke to another—this time, under the far more oppressive and systematic hegemony of a Punjabi-dominated establishment.
3. The Illegitimacy of the Pakistani State and the Inalienable Right to Self-Determination
The state of Pakistan is an unnatural and artificial construct, forcibly binding together distinct historical nations that possess no shared history, culture, or political aspirations beyond a coerced administrative framework. International precedents affirm that such multi-national unions, especially those formed under duress or temporary agreements, cannot extinguish the inherent rights of their constituent nations.
The Soviet Union Analogy: The USSR was a political union of historically sovereign nations such as Ukraine, Georgia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, and others. The central Soviet state did not possess the authority to unilaterally alter the historical and geographical boundaries of these constituent republics. Ultimately, these nations exercised their inherent right to self-determination and seceded from the union to re-establish their independence.
The Principle of Territorial Integrity of Constituent Nations: Similarly, federations like the United Arab Emirates, formed by Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah, and Fujairah, are formed by constituent emirates, and the central authority is not empowered to dismember or redraw their established borders. The same principle applies to Pakistan. The state of Pakistan, which was formed on the basis of a temporary political resolution, has no legal or moral authority to tamper with the territorial integrity of the historical nations it subsumed.
The Precedent of Bangladesh: The secession of Bangladesh in 1971 is irrefutable proof of Pakistan’s artificiality and the failure of its founding ideology. The Bengali nation reclaimed its sovereignty, demonstrating that the bonds holding Pakistan together were neither natural nor permanent.
The Sindhi nation, like the Bengalis and the constituent republics of the former USSR, retains its natural, historical, and legal right to secede from this forced union.
4. The Current Crisis: Systematic Oppression and Existential Threats
Since 1947, the Sindhi nation has been subjected to a relentless campaign of political oppression, economic exploitation, and cultural assimilation by the Pakistani state, which functions as an instrument of Punjabi imperialism.
Political Oppression: Our political rights have been systematically denied, our leaders have been persecuted, and our national aspirations have been met with brutal force.
Economic Exploitation: Sindh’s natural resources، its gas, coal, ports, and fertile lands، are plundered to enrich the ruling elite, while our people are deliberately impoverished.
Cultural and Linguistic Assault: A concerted effort is underway to erase our distinct identity. The Sindhi language, our rich history, and our unique culture are being marginalised and suppressed.
The Imminent Threat to Our National Unity: Most alarmingly, the Pakistani state and its notoriously corrupt and coercive military establishment are now actively conspiring to dismember the historical geography of Sindh. These conspiracies aim to divide our homeland, weaken our national cohesion, and inflict a fatal blow upon our struggle for freedom. This is a deliberate strategy to destroy the very concept of a unified Sindhi nation and foreclose any possibility of a sovereign future.
An Urgent Appeal to the World
We, the people of Sindh, the creators and custodians of the Indus Valley Civilisation, are facing an existential threat from the state of Pakistan. This is not merely an internal political matter; it is a struggle for the survival of an ancient nation.
We appeal to the leaders and people of the world to recognise our plight. We urge you to:
1. Acknowledge: the historical right of the Sindhi nation to self-determination.
2. Condemn: the political, economic, and cultural oppression being perpetrated by the Pakistani state against the people of Sindh.
3. Oppose: all efforts by the Pakistani state and its military to undermine the historical and territorial integrity of Sindh.
4. Lend your moral, political, and diplomatic support to our peaceful and just struggle for national liberation.
The world cannot stand by silently as a cradle of civilisation is systematically dismantled. By supporting Sindh’s cause for freedom, you are upholding the universal principles of justice, liberty, and the right of all historical nations to determine their own destiny. Stand with Sindh, for the preservation of our national existence and for the cause of freedom itself.
The Right to Self-Determination: This principle, enshrined in the United Nations Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, affirms that all peoples have the right to freely determine their political status and pursue their economic, social, and cultural development. The people of Sindh constitute a distinct “Nation” by every historical, geographical, linguistic, and cultural metric and are thus entitled to this right.
Precedent of Unnatural States: The 20th century witnessed the amalgamation of historical nations into artificial state constructs, none of which proved permanent or had the right to alter the fundamental historical geography of their constituent nations.
The current conspiracy by the artificial state of Pakistan to partition Sindh’s geography and undermine its national unity is a dangerous scheme that violates international law and the United Nations Charter, as it directly targets the natural right of self-determination of historical nations. Such actions threaten to plunge the region into widespread bloodshed, as the Sindhi nation can no longer accept the dismemberment of its historical homeland. Instead, it prioritises and upholds its inherent right to self-determination and is determined to pursue the freedom of Sindhudesh as its foremost national objective.
We wish to reiterate before the political leaders of the civilised world, international human rights organisations, global intellectuals, political activists, and journalists that Sindh and the Sindhi nation are not a part of the artificial and temporary boundaries of the state of Pakistan. They belong to their historical homeland, shaped over thousands of years, as the custodians of the Indus Valley Civilisation, possess a rich and living legacy encompassing their geography, culture, history, language, political and economic unity, and civilisation developed over thousands of years. They deserve freedom from the artificial and unnatural state of Pakistan, which represents external colonial interests that threaten Sindhi sovereignty, identity, and heritage. We therefore appeal to all responsible nations, global leaders, and human rights organisations to support the Sindhi people in their struggle for survival, security, national unity, and self-determination. It is the moral and legal responsibility of the international community to recognise the historical, cultural, and political rights of the Sindhi nation and to support the establishment of Sindhudesh as a free, independent, and sovereign state.
Shafi Burfat
Chairman
Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz.
(Sindhudesh National Movement)
Germany